Bird Silhouette Identification Sheets

Many birds have unique silhouettes that are unique enough to identify them to their basic types (and some to species!).
The following images can be used to help identify many birds by their general shape (making it easier to narrow down what you are looking at) and when you can't see them clearly enough to get detailed impressions.

There are a lot of clues you can use to help you identify the bird(s) you're looking at:
> silhouette/ general shape of bird to narrow down what you are looking at. 
> about how big is the bird? (comparison sizes can help too!) 
> is the bird alone? a pair? in a group?
> what is the bird doing?
> are there any features that really stand out?
>> color(s)         >> beak- beak shape tells you how the bird eats
>> neck/ head shape         >> feet shape- perching? swimming?
> location - use local bird guide or the bird maps in books to see what birds are most similar in the region you are seeing the bird.
> habitat type? woods? shoreline? prairie? 
> season and time of day are also important. some birds are migratory and only live in certain areas at particular times of the year and some birds are only active (or doing certain activities) at particular times of the day.

To copy image, right click and "save image as" on to your computer, then you can print it out for use while birding! (i've had these images for a looong time and have no idea what the sources are, if anyone recognizes any of these pages please let me know!)

Not all of the birds on the silhouette pages are found throughout all of North America (for now i'm focusing on North American birds).

This first silhouette is of perching and standing birds birds...

These birds are ones commonly seen perching on lines...

This page is of birds in flight.

The following two pages are birds commonly found in or near water...

These birds (and one mammal) are often see during the twilight of dusk and dawn...

The following birds tend to be seen in western North America...

I hope these pages are helpful!
We'll be posting some of our bird sightings over the next few days *and* posting more birding tips!

Happy birding! 
(it's amazing how many are out there just waiting for you!)